Banking on convincing start, Mizoram, Railways look for win in National Football Championship semis

Mizoram will clash with Railways in the first semi-final match of the Senior Women's National Football Championship 2021-22 on Tuesday.

Mizoram qualified for the semi-final stage for the first time ever in the history of the Senior Women's NFC.

Elizabeth Vanlalmawii (10', 87') and Lalnunsiami (24', 66') scored a brace each to lead Mizoram to the victory against Maharashtra, who made it through to the semifinals by virtue of a solitary goal by Karen Pais (47') in the third quarter-final match.

On the other hand, last edition's runner-up Railways faced Goa in their quarter-final clash and won by four goals. It was a six-goal affair where Supriya Routray (45+1', 56', 58') scored a hat-trick in the match while Mamta (69') scored the fourth goal for Railways. For Goa, both goals came from Sushmita Jadhav (33', 90+1').

Mizoram were placed in Group G with Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Uttarakhand in the group stage of the tournament. They won two against hosts Kerala (3-2) and Madhya Pradesh (4-0) before a draw with Uttarakhand (0-0) sealed their progression to the knockout stages.

Meanwhile, Railways were placed in Group B with Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli. They secured a big victory against Dadra & Nagar Haveli scoring 5 goals in their first match and netted 4 goals against Chhattisgarh in their second one to confirm their seat in the quarter-finals with Goa.

The first semi-final match of the Senior Women's NFC will kick off at 9.30 AM IST on Tuesday at the EMS Stadium, Kozhikode.

( With inputs from ANI )